I finally got around to taking the dialect quiz that The New York Times posted last month and that made quite a splash on social media.

My results show that the closest three cities to my particular way of speaking are Springfield, Mass., Newark/Paterson, N.J., and Philadelphia, Penn. The first connection is unsurprising, since central Connecticut and western Massachusetts are not dissimilar. I’m a little more surprised by the latter two cities, but I imagine it’s indicative of now having lived in the South for a quarter of my life. (While I picked “you” for what to call multiple single “you’s,” I will allow that “y’all” and “all y’all” do occasionally make their way into my speech these days.)

The best part of the results, I thought, was that the map squarely pegs where I grew up, with the darkest red directly over the town I called home for 15+ of my life.

The quiz was fun for, if no other reason, learning that things you take for granted are called by other names elsewhere. I mean, I knew that rotary, roundabout, and traffic circle were interchangeable and that a surprising number of people weirdly call sneakers “tennis shoes,” but I never would have guessed there were other terms for Mischief Night.

Have you had a chance to take the quiz? Did you find your results accurate? And were there surprises you encountered, either in the questions or in where they placed your dialect?

Last year I decided to start work on tackling three goals a month, which seemed a reasonable number, at least until I stopped fulfilling them — and then even setting them. But just because they didn’t stick didn’t make them a bad idea, so I’ve decided to resume them for 2014.

During January I plan to:

1. Darn my sweater and replace the two buttons that have fallen off. My Everyday Cardigan is regularly worn, but it is looking a little sad these days with holes and safety pins marring it. I’m signed up for a darning class mid-month to help me fine-tune the skills required for completing this task (and fixing the pile of socks that also need mending).
2. Take a bag of donations to the charity bookshop and one to Goodwill. The bags are already full and waiting. I just can’t seem to motivate myself to remove them from the house. (The Goodwill bag is particularly pathetic, since it spent all of December in the car and then came back inside when we needed the trunk space for taking Christmas presents up to Connecticut.) Maybe this weekend while Rudi is out of town I can get myself moving (perhaps with the promise of a trip to the Arlington library in pursuit of a book I really want to read that D.C. hasn’t bought).
3. Invite someone to visit. We need the incentive to keep the Burrow somewhat tidy, and, honestly, I’m a bit lonely these days with Rudi gone most weekends. Maybe we’ll have people over to celebrate Russian Christmas next week. Or maybe a tea party is in order some weekend. Or a game night…

Well, that’s my plan for January. How about you? Are you a goal-/resolution-setter?

I was supposed to write this on Sunday, but didn’t:

The weekend began with John and Nicole and a Baggins and a Smaug. We caught the 3D version of The Hobbit, part 2, and were remarkably pleased with it. The spiders of Mirkwood made me jump and several other 3D effects had me flinching, although I’d be hard-pressed to tell you what they were right now. I liked the addition of Tauriel, the female elf captain, who was not in the book (because female characters didn’t engage in swordfights in the early 20th century, one assumes) and appreciated that Smaug’s voice had been run through some filters so he didn’t sound exactly like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes. Martin Freeman’s Bilbo did share some inflections with John Watson, though (both characters are frustrated by regularly being talked over by their companions). We mulled over the movie with some pizza and beers (mine was root), before hopping on trains home.

The weekend marked the beginning of Rudi’s winter second job as a ski coach, so we only saw each other during the evenings. I started the Christmas cards and listened to some Christmas music and did some chores around the house, including washing most of the wool socks.

Saturday evening, I had free passes to see G.W.’s Revels, an annual celebration through dance, song, theater, and spoken word of the solstice. I had enjoyed Conn’s annual version of this, Make We Joy, so was hoping for something similar. I was not disappointed, although Lisner Auditorium is no Chapel. This year’s cultural theme was Thrace, so the performances focused on Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, and other countries in that region. We danced during “The Lord of the Dance” and sang a variety of songs with the cast and generally had a blast.

Sunday included a failed attempt at baking (how could I be out of confectionery sugar?) and Megan and Sarah’s annual Christmas cartoon party and reading (Better Nate Than Ever, a fun romp of a middle-grade book for the budding theater geek in your life) and some more card-writing (once I get past “F,” I’m home free, but I’m only up to “D”).

I wrapped up the weekend with an errand-filled early Monday morning, including dropping off our Toys for Tots donations at the local charity bookshop and buying Christmas stamps for all those cards.

I lost a week there somehow. I swear I just wrote and then I got up and came back to the computer and we were at Thursday still, but it was a different week’s Thursday. I’m not sure how that happened.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Friends gathered to help us decorate our tree and to make merry. Some brought food. Some brought ornaments. Some brought children to entertain us. One brought a handmade treat for the cats. All brightened our day.

2. Having people over always takes it out of us. We were extremely grateful for a snow day, even if the snow/ice never really materialized here. We slept in, watched a Christmas flick, got the last decorations on the tree, found the Christmas cards (who would have thought I would have put the ones I bought in October where they should go???), and didn’t change out of our pajamas.

3. While visiting a farm, we are greeted by a bored sheepdog, whose charges are all safely closed in a paddock in the front yard. Would we like to play ball? We fling the ratty tennis ball, and he chases, filled with glee.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

I just wanted to let folks know that the annual December tradition of the Virtual Advent Tour began on Dec. 1.

I’ll be contributing a post on Dec. 20, but I suggest bookmarking the page or adding the feed to your blog reader, because folks really do write on a broad and fascinating array of holiday-related topics. There will be posts on books, music, food, ornaments, crafts, and quizzes, as well as personal, cultural, and national traditions.

It’s definitely a festive way to mark the season, and I find starting my day by reading the day’s contributions really puts me in a good mood.

Oh, and if you’re in a mood to contribute, it’s not too late to sign up for a date (well, unless you wanted Dec. 1, 2, or 3).

I don’t like peppermint, but I am looking forward to making my own peppermint ice cream this month. (I bought candy canes today to smash up into it.)